AstLinux on a AMD PIC/Data Evolution decTOP

The AMD Personal Internet Communicator has recently (2006) ceased production and outstanding inventory has been bought out by Data Evolution Inc whom have renamed it as the "decTOP".

There seems to be two variations of this device. The PIC itself ran WINCE and in turn had a web browser/email client/etc allowing access to the Internet and appears to be locked in some fashion to the WINCE OS by way of the BIOS. The models currently shipping (June 2007) from Data Evolution Inc have no OS installed and can use bootable USB devices as well as the HDD.

I have been sucessfull in getting AstLinux to install and run on this machine. This page will attempt to explain how I did it.

First, here's a little about the machine itself

Processor: AMD Geode GX2 (366MHz) Memory: 128 MB PC2700 DDR (200 pin SODIMM, 1 slot, expandable to 512MB max) Hard disk: 10 GB 3.5" IDE (easily replaced) *** Connections: 4x USB (1.1, not 2.0), VGA, audio in/out/mic, modem Power: 12 VDC, 8 W (most of which is the hard disk) Included accessories: USB keyboard, USB 2-button mouse, USB Ethernet adapter, USB extension cable, AC adapter, telephone cable

So how is it done? The easy way is to not take it apart. Straight out of the box the decTOP has no OS installed onto its supplied 10GB HDD. When you boot it up it will bitch about there being no OS installed and to press the "any" key. If you install a USB flash drive into one of the USB ports it'll try to boot from that.

Simply follow the AstLinux instructions using dd (Linux) or physdiskwrite (Windows) to create a bootable USB flash disk using the AstLinux-0.4.5-i586 image. When its done move the flash drive over to the decTOP and reboot it.

If all goes well you should see the AstLinux boot menu appear. You need to be really fast here as it only hangs around for a few seconds. Select option three to boot from the USB flash drive. After the usual loading of drivers/disks/modules etc AstLinux will present you with the pbx# prompt.

Now we can copy the contents of the flash drive to the hard disk. Type the following to get it going; dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/hda  When it has finished the pbx# prompt will re-appear. Pull out the flash disk and reboot the decTOP. It should start up again from the HDD. This time select the last option on the boot menu and log in when it's finished booting.

When you log in you'll see that there's no network running; eth0 does not exist because AstLinux has not found a network card it likes. There's no point in trying to fix this problem yet as we have nowhere to write anything down. This is still an AstLinux box and so will need a keydisk. Using fdisk create /dev/hda3 to be as large as you like. I used +512MB. I also made the remaining disk space into /dev/hda2 while I was there. Reboot again selecting the last option from the boot menu. Now make the keydisk using /dev/hda3 and reboot as before

. Update: June 25 2007: Warning, Will Robinson! The supplied USB Ethernet adapter sucks royaly! I have since changed mine to a Linksys USB200M (modprobe asix) and things are MUCH better now

We can now fix the network connection. Insert your Ethernet adapter (if it's not already there) and type; modprobe rtl8150. You should see the driver find the adapter. Now restart the network (/etc/init.d/network restart) and check with ifconfig. Now we know it works edit /etc/rc.modules and add rtl8150 above the word 3c59x. Then hash out all the other words below rtl8150 (these are drivers we don't need). Rebooting the decTOP should load the driver every time as per the picture to the left.

That's it! You've loaded AstLinux onto your decTOP without taking it apart!

The procedure for taking it apart is similar except for the copying of the files. One would install the AstLinux software directly onto the HDD as described above by installing the disk as the IDE slave on another PC. You'd then transfer it back again when it's done. I did try this method also and it worked.

Here are some pretty pictures of the decTOP insides. Click on them to enlarge.

The BIOS screen. The thing in the bottom left corner is the memory test etc	A naked decTOP. Note the Microsoft WINCE licence sticker on the drive.
This is the "noname" USB to Ethernet adapter	This is what the board looks like. You can clearly see the Geode processor, IDE interface and the memory SIMM
The upper half of the board. You can see the IDE connector, HDD Power connector, VGA interface ,USB and modem sockets. In the top right corner above the HDD power connector is a tiny button facing the back of the box. Dunno what it does.	The lower half of the board. You can see the memory SIMM, processor, audio chips and another USB socket. The power button is on the bottom right of the board below the battery.
A fully clothed decTOP with USB flash drive for scale	A decTOP with its trousers on
See! It does work!	I added an AstLinux sticker to it. What do you think?

Have fun with your decTOP and be aware that the usual caveats apply!

Links:

AMD's original web page
AMD's original spec sheet
Data Evolution Inc
Ubuntu on decTOP